Erkin Gadirli

Erkin Gadirli was born on 13 May 1972, in Baku, the capital of the Azerbaijani SSR, which was then part of the Soviet Union. His name, which was very rare in Soviet era, was given by his grandfather.[1] His parents divorced in 1976, and Gadirli had not contacted his father again.[2] He received his education in Russian.[3] In 1990, he graduated from the law faculty of Baku State University.[4]

Erkin Gadirli is in opposition to the government of the New Azerbaijan Party,[13] which is ruling in Azerbaijan since 1993.[14] Gadirli stated that he was not a democrat, but a supporter of right-wing authoritarianism. According to him, when the government changes in Azerbaijan, democracy will not be possible in the early years, and the reforms will need to be carried out in a right-wing authoritarian method, implementing "strict measures to regulate the political arena", and support "tough economic reforms in the market relations." He was therefore widely criticized within the party. Erkin Gadirli also spoke of the assassination of the Armenian political figures who committed the Khojaly massacre in 1992, where at least 200[15] and possibly as high as 613[16] ethnic Azerbaijani civilians were massacred by Armenian Armed Forces and the 366th CIS regiment,[17][18] as an act of revenge, for which he was verbally warned by the leadership of the REAL Party.[6] He also called Armenia an "organisation created by Russia," noting that Russia had "expelled the Azerbaijanis from their historical lands, and forcibly changed their names and language."[19]

Gadirli identifies himself as a civic nationalist. He himself stated that he was not one of those people who "carried ethnic concepts into politics." According to him, the ethnic nationalism is "very dangerous in a multi-rooted society," calling it chauvinism and backwardness. Gadirli stated that the Russian nationalism had a detrimental effects on Azerbaijan. According to Gadirli, the potential rise of chauvinism in Azerbaijan in a reaction to the Russian, Armenian, Iranian and potentially Georgian ones, was not surprising, but unacceptable, saying that Azerbaijan should not be chauvinistic like its neighbours.[1]

Gadirli supports the naming of the Azerbaijani language as Turkic and ethnic Azerbaijanis as Turks. Erkin Gadirli opposes the Turkification of the historical states that existed on the territory of modern-day Azerbaijan. He stated that "some people are afraid that we have emphasized that we came here later by calling ourselves Turks, thus giving the Armenians an argumentative advantage." Erkin Gadirli said that the Azerbaijanis were always Turks, but they had not always been here, and for him the Turkic migration to the region was not a problem at all, it had neither weaknesses, shortcomings or other unpleasant aspects. According to him, the Russian sector in Azerbaijan had very serious problems with the formation of a national prejudice in the education system.[19]

• Commentary on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1999; co-author).[5]